As the Sustainability Coordinator at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus over the last seven years I have had numerous neighborhood First Lego League teams come to campus to tour our sustainability practices for ideas.  First Lego League is a global robotics competition that teaches young children

The Recycling Steering Committee is meeting on Friday, January 17 to review preliminary results of collection infrastructure research and guide the next steps for analysis; follow up on equity discussions from the 12/17 meeting; and do final preparations for the 1/31 Information Session. The meeting agenda includes:

Reduce waste and save money--that's  what our ResourceFULL Use program is about. It's not as easy as it may sound but the rewards are even greater than you thought. There's money in garbage! We'll give you tips on productive waste management, plus a look at 15 years of ResourceFULL Use.

What is it?
House Bill (HB) 2509, passed in the 2019 Oregon legislative session, prohibits retail stores and restaurants from providing single-use checkout bags to customers, and places restrictions on other checkout bags they may provide. The ban went into effect on January 1, 2020.

After that, a retail store or restaurant may provide only reusable or recycled paper checkout bags to customers. In certain cases, they must charge a fee to customers for providing the bag.

DEQ is partnering with The Good Company, a Eugene-based sustainability consulting firm, to host a statewide peer exchange workshop on Oct. 16 addressing consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions. Over 50 local government staff and allies will gather to discuss local climate action planning tools and techniques, with a focus on actions targeting carbon-intensive consumption activities such as housing, food and transportation. Participating cities include Portland, Beaverton, Eugene, Bend, Mosier and Sisters.

DEQ has completed a major milestone in its food waste prevention work, and recently published its findings on the Oregon Wasted Food Study. This study tracked wasted food in both urban and rural households—using quantitative and qualitative research methods—to increase our understanding of how much, what, and why food is discarded by people in Oregon. This work was conducted by Portland State University’s Community Environmental Services.

Key findings include:

BRING still needs about 20 volunteers to assist with their 11th Annual Home + Garden Tour on Sunday, September 8.

More from BRING: 
Volunteers that sign up for one shift will earn a Tour ticket and our great appreciation! Volunteer duties include greeting Tour-goers, selling tickets, and helping homeowners during this year's event.

Press release from PSI and Oregon DEQ 

Pharmaceutical companies held responsible to collect unused medications

Portland, Oregon -- Oregon joined five states with a new law that requires drug manufacturers to pay for and run a statewide drug take-back program. The law, signed by Governor Kate Brown and championed by Representative Sheri Schouten, will ensure that every community in Oregon has free, convenient access to safe drug disposal. The law takes effect in September 2019 and the program must be operational by July 1, 2021.

When more than a thousand cars showed up for the last plastic round up, the Waste Management Division was concerned about the carbon emissions created by the cars. In response, waste management specialist Sarah Grimm says they created a community collector program to encourage a few people to collect plastic for their entire neighborhood.

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